Baltimore man convicted of Union Square murder by sword

Kevin Rector, The Baltimore Sun

A 46-year-old Baltimore man has been convicted of second-degree murder in the 2012 city killing of another man over a football debt, in which he used a sword he had concealed in a cane, Baltimore State's Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein's office announced Friday.

Todd Marrow, of the 1000 block of Hollins Street in the city's Hollins Market neighborhood, according to court records, was convicted of the Feb. 19, 2012 killing of Orville Chamblee, 47, on Thursday. A jury took two hours to deliberate, after a five day trial, prosecutors said.

Marrow was first arrested hours after the killing, when police located him in a car in the 300 block of S. Stricker Street in the New Southwest/Mount Clare neighborhood, where they also found the sword and cane sheath, prosecutors said.

About 3 p.m. that afternoon, Marrow and another still unidentified man had driven to a home in the 1300 block of McHenry Street in Union Square and confronted Chamblee, of the 2700 block of E. Chase Street in East Baltimore.

According to an investigation, Marrow and Chamblee had gotten into an argument previously about a debt Marrow refused to pay on a football bet, prosecutors said.

The day prior to the murder, Marrow had discovered his tires slashed, and had told Chamblee's girlfriend that he was looking for Chamblee.

During the confrontation between the two men, Marrow pulled the sword out of his trunk and repeatedly lunged at Chamblee with it while the other man stood by, prosecutors said. The incident was captured on surveillance video.

Chamblee was found five blocks away from the scene of the attack, and was later declared dead at Maryland Shock Trauma Center.

Marrow now faces a maximum sentence of 33 years in prison for the killing, prosecutors said.

His sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 4.

Note: The crime Marrow was convicted of was corrected in this story after prosecutors sent a corrected news release.